Monday 16 August 2010

CLOSURE UPDATE.

Introducing the new knitting needle display system!
I'd been wondering for a while, how to condense the knitting needles, which were taking up a whole wall of the shop.
The answer came while I was helping my Dad survey a site in Kendal.
A few months before the general election, the Conservative Party office in Kendal was torched in an arson attack, and burnt to the ground. Dad is designing flats to go in it's place.
Out the back of the site, in the undergrowth I found an old rusty display for paint brushes, all tangled up in the brambles. It took me a couple of evenings to crochet around the rusty metal, and I spray painted the top and drilled the word 'Pricks' in the metal, because in Kendal, the old word for needle is 'prick.'
Kendal has an interesting history as a wool town, with teasles and tenterhooks on it's crest. I was tempted to remove the dandilion bottom left, but mum was parked on a double yellow.

AUGUST CLOSURE.

Apologies to anyone who missed our e-mail and attempted to find us open. We have shut for August, (Like they do in Italy) for re-furbishment.
Building at Prick Your Finger is a journey. Our tradition of only using found materials, means we don't know exactly what will happen, but the shop will be more spacious, streamline, and easier for you to find what you want.
Good quality scrap timber is scant in East London these days, but with a recent tip off, the pieces are starting to fit! Watch this space...

Thursday 5 August 2010

CALLING ALL GRADUATE KNITTERS AND CROCHETERS!!

Friend of Prick Your Finger Martine Rose is looking for help knitting /crocheting hats for her upcoming show at LFW.
If you need the experience and want to get into fashion this is a good chance to get your work seen and credited at LFW plus you get pics for your folio!
Heres the info she sent us....

Martine Rose, is a young menswear brand that has shown on schedule at LFW for the past 3 seasons,and has just been selected for MAN catwalk show SS10. Primarily a shirt label, it has now developed into full looks fusing traditional elements with strong references to sportswear
I am looking for a knitwear student/graduate,who would be interested in making hats for the show, which would feature on the catwalk.There would be between 4-5 hats all random styles and all knitted/crochet

It would be an interesting project,where the student/graduate would have the opportunity to showcase there work on the catwalk at LFW, obviously get full credit and images for the portfolio.

The show is on the 22nd September so the time frame is quite tight.

If you might be interested, please contact me as soon as possible

+447787514696/studiomartinerose@gmail.com


SNAKES AND LADDERS PHOTOS.

Congratulations to all our friends who worked so hard, helping us construct this amazing snakes and ladders board for the Wellcome Collection. These are the pictures that the Wellcome library took, and in high resolution we can see every loving stitch you made.

For those of you who didn't see it, it is approx 8ft square, and embroidered on tie dyed printed aiva canvas with black PVC snakes and brown felt ladders. Printed on each square were drawings of microscopic pictures of nutrients and bacteria, with numbers on top. Embroiderers had free reign to decorate in any way they wished. The spots on the dice and counters were made with hand made felt. Made by friends of Euston Timebank and Prick Your Finger.

Tuesday 3 August 2010

RIHKARD'S STRANGLING JERSEY.


Poor Rihkard. He made a brilliant choice when he purchased a navy blue cashmere aran style jersey at considerable expense, but unfortunatly the collar was too high, so when ever he spoke , his adam's apple got caught on the front of the collar, and it started to wear the fabric away. It's the sort of problem that you can not foresee at the time of purchase, and so annoying because he couldn't have the relationship with it that he was anticipating.
I chopped an inch and a half off with the scissors.

A rolled over collar, I had to pick up stitches on the inside and out. I knitted a couple of rounds for both, cast off and then joined the edges together with a round of double crochet.

A satisfying job because it was such a beautiful garment. I hope it can be worn for generations now.